China's major reforms over past 5 years

Xinhua,February 23, 2018
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Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late 2012, the CPC Central Committee has advanced reform in various fields and taken socialism with Chinese characteristics forward.

Over the five years since then, reform has expanded from economic sectors to political affairs, social development, culture, the environment, Party building and the armed forces.

-- Initiated in 2015, supply-side structural reform remains the centerpiece of the economic agenda, pruning overcapacity, clearing up the large inventory of unsold homes, curbing debt and lowering business costs.

In 2018, the focus will shift to eradicating ineffective capacity, fostering new growth drivers and cutting costs in the real economy.

-- Continuing reform of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will include changing the share-holder structure, spinning off non-core assets and more innovation.

So far, two groups of SOEs in electrical services and civil aviation are experimenting with a mixed-ownership, allowing private or foreign investment in particular companies.

-- Rural land ownership reform began to grant farmers more rights to benefit from collective land in villages in 2014. The pilot program, a significant aspect of the rural revitalization strategy, has expanded rapidly.

During the past three years, farmers have started to own shares in collective assets and receive returns each year. The rural land ownership system has been streamlined and grassroots governance improved.

-- Since the 18th CPC National Congress, more than 600 administrative approvals have been abolished or moved to lower-level offices.

In September 2017, the State Council decided to further cut red tape, separating business operation permits from business licenses.

-- The latest round of healthcare reform began in 2009, with "healthcare for all" as its core objective. All public hospitals have joined a program to end 60-year practice of drug price markups. Basic medical insurance now covers 1.35 billion people, 95 percent of the population.

-- In judicial reform, a more specialized and professional judiciary is evolving. Meddling in law enforcement and judicial affairs is now recorded and reported.

-- To establish a national supervision system against corruption, commissions have been set up in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, to supervise those who exercise public power. A draft supervision law was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for a second reading in December 2017.

Meetings of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau in 2015 approved two documents on environmental protection, introducing systems of natural resource assets ownership, use and compensation, performance evaluation and accountability.

-- After about two years of research and discussion involving over 690 military units and local organizations, a national defense and military reform was unveiled in 2015.

Military organizations were revamped and the joint combat command mechanism improved. The four military headquarters -- staff, politics, logistics and armaments -- were reorganized into 15 agencies, while the seven military area commands were regrouped into five theater commands.

All these achievements were led by the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core.

-- In December 2012, shortly after being elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Xi said during a visit to China's reform and opening up frontier Shenzhen that reform had come up against some hard issues and entered "a deep-water zone."

-- At the second group study session of the 18th CPC Central Committee Political Bureau on Dec. 31, 2012, Xi asked for sober-mindedness in following the right direction as well as the political courage and wisdom to deepen reform.

-- Xi led a team of officials who drafted a document for the third plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which focused on "major issues concerning comprehensively deepening reform." The document was unanimously passed at the plenary session in November 2013.

-- The Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which Xi headed, held 38 meetings, approving 365 documents, setting over 350 initiatives and introducing more than 1,500 measures.